Fluid pressure operated apparatus and fluid control valve therefor



Patented Dec. 26, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE FLUID PRESSURE OPERATED APPARATUS AND FLUID CONTROL VALVE THERE,-

FOR

Application February 25, 1936, Serial No. `65,551 Renewed February .1, 1939 'Ihe present invention relates to a fluid pressure operated .apparatus and a uid control valve operated by the pressure of the fluid that the valve is" designed to control.

The valve of this invention may be employed in numerous ways but is herein employed to prevent the escape of fluid from a system untily thel pressure of the iiuid in the system has risen to a predetermined point. 'I'he specific valve herein disclosed is so designed that the pressure required to open the valve and permit the passage of uid therethrough is much greater than the pressure which is necessary to maintain the valve open after it once has been opened; but it will be apparent that this design is only one of a large number of possible variations depending upon the desired difference between the pressures at which the valve is to open and to close again.

There are a great many apparatus in which vtime when the fluid is to be utilized, lat which time the uid is released and is permitted to escape through pipe lines. It has been customary in such apparatus to. employ a number of comparatively small containers connected to a common discharge conduit and to provide means to release the uid from the numerous small containers substantially simultaneously.-

In a great many instances means to release the fluid in one of the containers to a common discharge conduit either by manual means, or automatically, is provided. The uid in the remaining containers is then released by the action, on appropriate mechanisms, of -the pressure ofl the iiuid released. from the rst container which reaches the aforementioned mechanisms by means of the conduit. Apparatus of this type has been employed in several arts but is mainly used in the art of "fire extinguishing. An exam ple of apparatus of this kind' which is employed in re extinguishing is illustrated and described in the United States Patent No. 2,000,708, granted on May 7, 1935.

In employing apparatus of this general sort disadvantages have become very apparent. Often it has been found that after the fluid has been released from the rst container it escapes from the apparatus through the common discharge conduit so rapidly that it does not furnish enough pressure to operate the release mechanisms on the other containers. Accordingly it would be of great advantage to provide a means which would restrain the iiuid released from the first container in the discharge conduit until the pressure of fluids underV high pressure are stored until the the fluid will have caused the release of the u-dl in the other containers.

The valve of the present invention has been designed to meet this situation, and accordingly anobject of the present invention is to provide a valve for fluids which will not permit passage.

of fluid therethrough until a predetermined pressure has been reached and will remain open under pressures which are less than the pressure required to open the valve.

Another object of the invention is to provide I a valve which will permit the escape of any air said fluid until the pressure thereof has been.

built up suiiciently to operate said mechanism.

Further objects, not specifically enumerated above, will be apparent as the invention is described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in vertical, central section of a valve in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a view partially in central vertical .section and partially -an exterior view of the valve of Figure 1 at right angles to the View of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatical vview of an apparatus for discharging a fluid` medium under pressure, in which the valve of the present invention is employed. l

In Figure 1 there is shown a valve body I having a threaded inlet 3 and a threaded outlet 5. 'Ihe purpose of the threaded inlet 3 and outlet 5 is to permit attachment of the valve to the apparatus in which it is to be employed. The inlet 3 leads directly to an inlet chamber 'I which is bounded by the wall of the body I, the wall 9 and the Wall II. A small bleeder hole I3 in the wall II connects the inlet chamber 1 with the outlet chamber I which is formed by the body I and the wall I I. The bleeder hole is furnished to permit the escape of any fluid which may co1- lect or remain in the valve and in the system with which the. valve is associated, at a pressure that is insuiiicient to open the valve or to maintain the valve open after-it has moved to the open position. This bleeder hole also permits the relief of any air pressure which might otherwise develope upon 'a rise of temperature in the apparatus. It thus prevents the presence of a iluid under pressure in the valve which is insufformed which connects the inlet chamber 1 with the valve chamber 2|, formed in the body by the wall 23. The wall 23 is provided with threads 25 which coact with appropriate threads on the bonnet 21.' The bonnet 21 is attached to the body m I by the threads and it serves to close the valve chamber 2 |v in airtight condition. The bonnet 21 has a chamber 29 forming part of the valve chamber 2| and communicating with a. passage 3| in the bonnet. A wall 33 formed in the pasg5 sage reduces the size of the opening of the passage at a point near the end of the bonnet 21.

On the stem 35, which extends through the chamber 2| of the body, the chamber 29 and the passage 3| of the bonnet to the exterior of the a0 bonnet 21,'is mounted a valve seat disc 31.- Normally the disc 31 rests on the seat I9. The stem has a portion 39 that is smaller in diameter than the main section of the stem and forms a shoulder 4I where the portion 39 meets the main 35 section of the stem. In the chamber 2| is a piston 43 mounted on the portion 39 of the stem.

35 and resting against the shoulder 4I. The diameter of the piston 43 is very nearly equal to the diameter of the chamber 2| so that very little clearance is permitted therebetween, but to prevent leakage of a fluid between the piston and the wall of the chamber 2| a leather cup washer is placed on the piston having a diameter sufcient to permit it to rub against the wall of the chamber 2|., Between the valve seat disc 31 and the cup washer 45 is placed a washer 41 sewing to hold the cup washer in place. The valve seat disc 31 has a recess 49 wherein the nut 5| rests when it has been secured to the portion 39 by means of the cooperating threads 53 formed y on the stem portion 39.

The valve seat disc 31 is ordinarilyV pressed against the valve seat I9 by the pressure of the spring surrounding the stem 35 and resting on the piston 43 and washer 51. The washer 51 in turn bears on the wall 33 of the bonnet. The .washer 51 has a central square holev instead of a round hole in order to provide the greatest possible bearing' surface for the spring and still prevent binding of the washer on the stem.

The end of the stem 35 extending to the exterior of -th`e bonnet has two sections smaller in diameter than the main portion of the stem.

restingon the wall 33 of the bonnet 21. A metalwasher 15 is placed on the gasket 13 and is pressed against the gasket by a spring 11 which v bears on the indicator 1| and the washer 15.

'I'he gasket 1 3 is accordingly held securely against the wall 33 by the action of the spring 11. 'A space 12 is provided between the wall 33 yof the 'bonnet and the stem 35. -Any back pressure created by the movement of the piston will act on the gasket 13 and tend to push it away from the wall 33 thus breaking the seal between the gasket and the wall. If the pressure in the- 'non'-l net is greater than the tension of thespring 11 the gasket 13 will move away from the Wall 33 and under such conditions the back pressure may be dissipated through the space 12 to the atmosphere. In this manner a vent is provided for the back pressure of the .piston which will also allow the escape ofany fluid which may leak past the cup leather and the piston lwhen the valve has been opened by the iluid pressure. In the event that the back'pressure is not suicient to move the gasket 13 against the tension of the spring 11, then the shoulder 6I on the 'stem 35 will engage the gasket to move it to relieve the back pressure upon continued movement of the stem.

,The indicator 1| serves a very important function in the event that the valve should remain open for any reason. If for instance,l the leather cupwasher should in some way prevent the re-i fore any harm has been done; and thus the valve may serve the purpose for which it was designed.

The pressures that determine when the valve will operate are dependent on the relative areas of the passage 1 and the piston 43. It is readily apparent that the pressure at which the valve will open against a xed spring depends on the area of the passage I1. When a fluid enters the valve through the inlet 3 the pressure will press on the valve disc 31 tending to push it away from the seat I9. Hence, the bigger the exposed area of the disc, the smaller will be the pressure required to push the disc back. The passage which leads to the disc is accordinglyr made of such size that the pressure required to Apush the disc back is greater than the greatest pressure required to operate all the mechanisms that must be operated before the valve is to open. Usually the pressure is in the neighborhood of 100 pounds per square inch when the required mechanism operating pressure is about 40 pounds per square inch.

Once the valve has been opened, however, the iiuid will pass through the valve and since `the area of the piston 43 th'en exposed to the pressure of the fluid passing through the valve is much greater than the area of the disc which wasV exposed, a lesser pressure will retain the valve open for the passage of the uidthan was necessary to open the valve, since the force exerted by the iluid is dependent on the areaover which the i pressure is exerted.

It readily will be realized thatthe valve of the present design may be changed for various uses and may be tted for particular uses by changing the relative areas of the disc and the piston and by the size and design of the spring used.v

In fact, the ratios of the two areasmay be varied, as required, from a maximum greater than unity to a theoretical minimum equal to unity, when the opening pressure is equal or very nearly equal to the closing pressure.

Referring now to Figure 3, which illustrates apparatus for discharging a fluid medium under pressure, in which the valve of the present invention is employed, a main pressure fluid medium container is shown at 18. This container is provided with a fluid pressure operated.. release mechanism 19, which is connected to a. main discharge conduit 8| by a branch connection 80. A control container. 83, having, for example, a

manually operable fluid release mechanism 84| and also containing a iiuid medium under pressure, is also connected tothe main discharge conduit 8| by a branch connection 82. A pressure differential fluid control valve 85, in accordance with the present invention, is interposed in the main discharge conduit beyond the connections thereto of the main and control containers of fluid medium.

In view of the detailed description of the construction and operation of the pressure differential fluid control valve itself, the operation of the apparatus of Figure 3 is readily understood. Thus, upon operation of the manual release mechanism 84 of the control container 83, the control fluid will be released into the main discharge conduit 8| behind the normally closed pressure differential fluid control valve'85, which blocks the discharge of the control medium until sufficient pressure has been built up by the outilow from the control container 83 to effect operation of the fluid pressure operated release mechanism 19 of the main container '|8.y As soon as the pressure has built up to the predetermined value for which' the pressure differential valve 85 is set, the valve 85 opens to permit the desired discharge of the fluid medium; and by reason of the differential pressure feature of the valve 85, the valve remains open until practically all the fluid medium has been discharged, and until the pressure of the medium has fallen below some` vention is put, and the operating characteristics.

of the apparatus.

It will of course be understoodfthat any pressure remalning'in the main discharge conduit 8l after the closing of the valve 85 will be bled off` through the bleeder hole or vent I3 in the Wall l I of the valve 85 (see Figure l) and the apparatus will be ready for operation again as soon as the empty containers have been replaced,`

It will also be understood that, in the application of the invention to a use such as is shown in Figure 3, the number of containers, their types and respective modes of operation, and their particular relative arrangement inthe apparatus would not constitute. a deviation beyond the scope of the invention, so long as the discharge of the medium is retarded until sufcient pressure has been built up to insure operationv of all the pressure operated containers, and so long as the discharge of the medium through the differential 1 valve may proceed until there has been some predetermined drop in the pressure of the fluid medium below that required to openl the valve.

Although I have shown and described a specic embodiment of my invention, I am fully aware that many modifications thereof are possible, and

` it is to be understood that the present invention, while .it has been described with specific reference to the accompanying drawing, is not to be limited save as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a re extinguishing apparatus comprising a container of fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a discharge conduit-for said Huid when it is released from said container, a fluid pressure operated mechanism for releasing said fluid from said container, an operating fluid container like- Wise containing a fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, means to release said operating fluid from its container, and means to conduct said operating fluid to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism comprising said discharge conduit, the combination of fluid restraining means in said discharge conduit beyond said containers to prevent discharge of fluid from the discharge conduit until the fluid therein has attained a predetermined pressure suflicient to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism, said last u named means being adapted upon operation thereof to discharge fluid from the discharge sure, a discharge conduit for said fluid when it is released from said container, a-uid pressureloperated mechanism for releasing said fluid from said container, an operating fluid container likewise containing a fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, means to release said operating fluid from its container, and means to conduct said oper-ating fluid to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism comprising said discharge conduit, the combination of fluid restraining means in said dischargeconduit beyond said containers to prevent discharge of fluid from the discharge I conduit until the fluid therein has attained a predetermined pressure suflicient to` operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism, said last named means being adapted upon operation thereof to discharge fluid from the discharge conduit until the press/ure therein has fallen a predetermined amo tbelow said first named predetermined pressure, and means constituting a continuous relatively restricted vent past said fluid restraining means.

3. In an apparatus comprising a container of a iuid medium underv pressure, a discharge conduit for said fluid when -it is released from said container, a uid pressure operated mechanism for releasing said fluid from 4said container, an operating fluid container likewise containing a fluid medium under pressure, means to release said operating fluid from its container, and means to conduct said operating uid to operate said fluid vpressure operated mechanism comprising said 'dischargecondulir the combination of` fluid restraining means in said discharge conduit beyond said containers to prevent discharge of fluid from the discharge conduit until the fluid therein has attained a predetermined pressure suflicient to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism, said last named means being adapted upon operation thereof to discharge fluid from the discharge conduit until the pressure therein has fallen a predetermined amount below said first named predetermined pressure.

4. In an apparatus comprising a. container of a. fluid medium under pressure, a discharge conduit for said fluid when it is released from said container, a fluid pressure operated mechanism for releasing said fluid from said eontainen, an operating uid container likewise containing a uid medium under pressure, means -to release said operating fluid from its container, and means to conduct said operating fluid to operate said uid pressure ,operated mechanism comprising said discharge conduit, the combination of uid restraining means in said discharge conduit beyond s'aid containers to prevent discharge offluid from the discharge conduit yuntil the fluid therein has attained a predetermined pressure sufficient to operate said iuid pressure operated mechanism.

5. In an apparatus comprising a container of a fluid medium under pressure, a discharge conduit for saidv fluid when it is released from said container. a fluid pressure operated mechanism for releasing said fluid from said. container, an operating fluid container likewise containing a iiuid medium under pressure, means to release said operating fluid from its container, and means to. conduct said operating fluid to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism -comprising said discharge conduit, the combination of iiuid restraining means in said discharge conduit beyond said container to prevent discharge of fluid from the discharge conduit uiitiLthe fluid therein has attained a predetermined pressure suiiicient to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism, said pressure being lower than the maximum attainable by the uid medium, and said last named` means being adapted upon operation' thereof to discharge fluid from the discharge conduit until the pressure therein, upon decreasing from a maximum, has attained a. value diering from said initial operating pressure of said fluid pressure operated mechanism by an amount varying from a maximum to a minimum as previously determined.

6. In an apparatus comprising a container of uid medium underpressure, a discharge conduit for said iiuld when it is released from said container, a uid pressure operated mechanism for releasing said uid from said container, an operating uid container likewise containing a fluid Y medium under pressure, means to release said operating uid from its container, andvmeans to conduct said operating uid to operate said fluid pressure operated mechanism comprising said discharge conduit, the combination of uid restraining means ln said discharge conduit beyond said container to prevent discharge of fluid from the discharge conduit until the uid therein has attained a predetermined pressure suiiicient to operate said iiuid pressure operated mechanism, said pressure being lower than the maximum attainableby the fluid medium, andsaid last named means being adapted upon operation thereof to discharge fluid from the discharge conduituntil the pressure therein, upon decreasing from a maximum, has attained a. value differing from said initial operating pressure of saidfluid pressure operated mechanism by a`minimum amount.

HENRY ERNEST HEIGIS. 

